Final Fantasy XIII uber-meta-review9

This game has had the most mixed reviews we have seen for a long time (if you exclude Bayonetta’s post-release ethical rinsing). Some are heralding the game’s epic story-driven narrative, where others are slating the game’s linearity and “15-hour tutorial.”

Either way, it looks like Square-Enix has performed a good deal of reinvention to the franchise with Final Fantasy XIII’s new streamlined approach. We have stripped out the scores from the reviews below, as many did not seem to match up to the written review that accompanied them.

So go ahead and take a look at the summaries below.

WIRED

This version’s gimmick is that it pares down the gameplay to a few basic elements: Turn-based battles against mobs of fantastic creatures and elaborate, movielike story sequences. But this time, Square Enix finally threw the baby out with the bathwater: The things that make RPGs feel so different from other games — the sense of a grand, nonlinear adventure and the rising and falling action of an open-ended world — are gone.

Guardian Gamesblog

What many will find hardest to accept about FF XIII, though, is its unflinching linearity. Bucking the recent vogue for sandbox games and western RPGs with multitudinous paths and endings, here you have no choice in how the story progresses. You don’t even get to choose which characters you battle with until you’re about 20 hours in.

What this lack of freedom does mean, however, is that story and character are brought to the fore. Over the past couple of weeks I’ve laughed at Sazh’s asides, been gripped by the narrative’s twists and turns and moved by the foreshadowing flashbacks – the likes of Fallout 3 and GTA 4 never really achieved this level of emotional involvement. It’s not often in a game you can say you genuinely care about the characters.

Occasionally, just occasionally, things do live up to your expectations. Some things even surpass them – and, for fans of the series, Final Fantasy XIII does just that. While it may not be everyone’s cup of tea, if you can accept its minor limitations and give it a few hours to draw you in, it could well be one of the best games you’ve ever played.

The Times

Final Fantasy XIII has a more streamlined structure and a proper plot, where you play as a band of heroes who must save their sci-fi utopia by exploring ancient ruins, slaying monsters and collecting loot. It’s undeniably spectacular, featuring lavish cities and dazzling fantasy worlds more akin to the film Avatar than to typical console games. The problem is, it’s not very engaging to play. In a quest for greater simplicity, the old combat system has been pared to the point that it takes a good eight hours to do anything genuinely satisfying. Worse, though, is that your path through the game practically drags you from one big fight to the next, with little freedom to explore. Some characters are irritating, and the storytelling is often spoilt by hideously mawkish passages. Once it cranks into gear, this is a compelling fantasy saga, but also far from the last word in adventure.

Joystiq

If you’ve got the endurance required to suffer Final Fantasy XIII’s radically unbalanced pacing, there are 30 or so truly wonderful hours of game to be played. It’s unfortunate that XIII’s plodding introduction requires so much from the player — 15 hours and 30 minutes is, after all, enough time to play most other games to completion. Still, after viewing the satisfying, Leona Lewis-infused conclusion, I’m of the firm position that the end easily justifies the means.

Eurogamer

Palatable is very much the word for Final Fantasy XIII. The Final Fantasy series, with its lengthy cinematics, stubborn style and carefully prescribed limitations, can never hope to please everyone. So it’s strange to see it try, and no surprise that the result is not a total success. It’s cautious, narrow, far too slow to get going, and is stripped down to such a bare naked form that even some FF traditionalists might find it off-putting.

What’s left, though, is faultlessly accomplished, gorgeous to behold and, in the long run, thoroughly enjoyable. For better or worse, it’s another new beginning, and that’s one Final Fantasy tradition that should never be changed.

The Lost Gamer

There has been much comment surrounding the linearity of the title and although this does feel necessary in allowing the player to navigate their way through the storyline and follow the narrative, it does feel a little dated. As a player that has enjoyed every title within the series’ history, I didn’t realise the lack of towns would bother me so much either. There’s no running around cities searching houses, chatting to NPC’s or playing mini-games such as Tetra Master here unfortunately.
In creating the first core Final Fantasy title to hit both PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, Square Enix weren’t going to take any chances and have easily produced one of their finest displays of technical prowess, especially in terms of the titles visuals and fast-paced battle system. Despite some minor flaws, it provides plenty of fresh ideas and some stunning moments to easily become a must have title for RPG fans and also provides something that will be accessible to all – be sure you don’t miss out.

Edge

Some people don’t like numbers, but try this little sum. If you submit 25 hours of your life to a misjudged series of linear battles and cutscenes, Square Enix lets you play FFXIII, and you’ll get 25 decent hours out of it. It’s an equation that might just balance out – but for who? Well, the fanbase, certainly, will find Lightning to be the Cloud substitute they’ve been yearning for, and in the hunting side-quests the grinding fix they’re after. For anyone less dedicated – who wouldn’t really care if a Chocobo makes an appearance or not – it’s more troubling. FFXIII is uncommonly beautiful, with a background fiction as rich as its story is poor, and at its beating heart is a battle system that stands among the genre’s finest. Its structural changes are brave, but in minimising everything that happens outside of that main narrative the baby’s been thrown out with the bathwater, leaving a potentially interesting world that you just don’t care about saving.

FFXIII takes brave risks with the series’ foundations, but they ultimately create trembling fractures throughout the entire edifice, that robust battle system unable to support the weight of an entire world. Final Fantasy games are always an investment. This time, the returns are questionable.

So there you have it. It looks like if you’re in for a good story and you have the time to invest, go for it. If you’d rather a game you can dip in-and-out of, this game is probably not for you – though if that’s a problem, you should probably avoid the whole Final Fantasy series anyway.